Fishermen have been advised to not venture into Odisha-Bengal coast and those already out have been told to move back.
India 17 May 2020: The severe cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’ lay centered over central parts of south Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood at 11.30 on Sunday near latitude 11.5°N and longitude 86.0°E, and about 980 km south of Paradip (Odisha), 1130 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) and 1250 km south-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin.
Light to moderate rainfall at most places is very likely over Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the next 24 hours, the IMD bulletin said. Coastal Odisha, meanwhile, is likely to experience light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places from 18th evening. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into south Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours, to central Bay of Bengal during 17th to 18th and into north Bay of Bengal during 18th to 20th.
The cyclone is very likely to intensify further into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ during next 12 hours. It is also very likely to move nearly northwards slowly during next 24 hours and then re-curve north-northeastwards and move fast across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) during the afternoon/evening of May 20 as a very severe cyclonic storm.
As many as 17 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Odisha and West Bengal. While seven teams of the force have been deployed in six districts of West Bengal—South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly, 10 teams are on alert in seven districts of Odisha—Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj.
